Like it as-is! You might try reversing black & white.

You're onto something, here, Erich. Stick with it. I've been thinking along the same lines. May post some experiments myself if this thread keeps going. I understand the struggle to define "abstract" but it doesn't matter how or whether it's defined as long as it is what you believe you are doing to be.

This is a really good video, thank you for the link. Should be required viewing for serious Nikon users, as author Tony Northrup makes some right-on-the-money recommendations on what Nikon should be doing to enhance its line of DSLRs. Obvious stuff, such as hiring people who are really good programmers and who are adept at creating intuitive user interfaces, such as those produced for smartphones. It is so funny when he compares smartphone swipe-type, intuitive interfaces that have mind-reading search technology, with Nikon's seemingly unending stacks of menus that you have to practically memorize to use quickly.

He praises Nikon for getting out ahead of everybody on wireless communication with SnapBridge, and then slams it hard for the poor, unsatisfactory way it performs. He makes the point that, rather than listen to consumer complaints and immediately fix problems with its products, it makes a software or firmware product, installs it in a camera, and then walks away, not doing anything to update it when there are problems with it. And those are just two of a whole slew of suggestions that are spot on.

This is a long video, half an hour, but for my money worth every minute. Gives us die-hards hope.

I've used 'em both and prefer DxO. DxO does not try to manage your photos for you, which I prefer. Also, yes, its noise reduction capability is impresive. Not perect, but pretty good.

Excellent article, very informative. Thank you, Legalese.

Camerapapi - The exact same thing started happening to me, coincidentally when I started using fast cards (95MB/s). Try transferring directly from the camera to the computer. If that works, then the card reader is the suspect. I went through several readers, all to no avail, until I tried Sandisk's Extreme Pro UHS-II SDHC/SDXC Reader/Writer (B&H, $17.99). That did the trick. Also, the readers who mention that USB1 & USB 2 ports (due to their slower read speeds) could be part of the issue are correct. However, the Sandisk card does not seem to care (mine plugs into a USB2 port).

Boomer - Does this happen with other lenses at 28mm (or their widest angle)? The D7100 is not known to have this kind of problem; however, it does allow you to adjust focus accuracy if a lens focuses improperly. Suggest that you take some (measurement) test shots and see if you can recreate and then identify the problem.

If the camera is a factory refurb and the shutter was replaced as part of the process, then the shutter count would revert to zero and the number you see is the number of actuations since the camera was refurbed, including the test shots taken by Nikon, plus the demo shots at the dealer's. -George-

Possible lack of contrast in the scene. I've experienced this with wide angle housing development shots, where the houses all were the same relative tone as each other and the same as the landscape around the houses. Lots of focus searching. Finally had to find some contrast at the right distance, freeze focus, and shoot.

Yeah, that's the point. I just bought two soft boxes and a backdrop . . .

Wish I'd-a thought of this.

Same goes for fish in a school. Wish these animals could teach some people how to drive.

Some really good captures here. Like esp. #4.

Hope my wife doesn't see this . . .

Thank you!

Thanks, Erich. The question as I understand it revolves about learning the ability of the sensor to record detail at the extreme ends of the histogram, and using that to decide whether to add EV (overexpose) or deduct EV (underexpose) when shooting - to push the image toward storing more detail. Then having taken the picture, pull the detail out in post. This would then influence whether you shot with +EV or -EV as a standard.

In the samples below, check the histograms. While there is still irretrievable detail at the extreme ends of the images, the retouched versions both show almost the same amount of ultimate loss - namely, not much. Maybe a bit more is preserved in #3, but to confirm that you would have to have everything the same except for EV. So, for the images chosen, it really is hard to say whether more detail is preserved in either over or under. It is also possible that the D7100 doesn't favor one over the other.

As an aside, I agree with those who opt to try to get the right exposure, meaning to keep the pixels within the confines of the histogram, and not try to "cheat the camera" to get more detail. Personally my default setting is -0.3EV.

FWIW

Original image

(Download)

Detail pulled out, image cropped to pull closer

(Download)

Original image

(Download)

Detail pulled out, cropped to pull closer

(Download)